


utter my love when it counted

by YellowMagicalGirl



Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: I don't say it outright but Steve's dad is a homophobe, Implied/Referenced Bullying, Implied/Referenced Injuries, Internalized Homophobia, Love Confessions, M/M, Mentions of Coach/Steve's Mom, Mentions of Jim and Dr. Lake, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor Injuries, Secret Santa, Tales of Arcadia Secret Santa 2019, Title from a Hozier Song, past bullying, toasecretsanta2019, wearing each other's clothes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:15:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21904321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YellowMagicalGirl/pseuds/YellowMagicalGirl
Summary: Eli didn't ask Steve's opinion of the shirt he was wearing.
Relationships: Steve Palchuk/Eli Pepperjack
Comments: 8
Kudos: 113





	utter my love when it counted

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this as a Secret Santa fic for astartlinglackofpotential on tumblr. This takes place between "Creepslayerz" and "In the Hall of the Gumm Gumm King".

“You look like a little kid in that,” Steve said.

Eli rolled his eyes. He was wearing one of Steve’s jerseys, because Eli had gotten stabbed by a creeper and a large portion of his own shirt had gotten blood on it. Steve had taken Eli to his house because, unlike Eli’s, it was empty becuse Coach had taken Steve’s mom on a date. Steve had bandaged the smaller Creepslayer, and then taken the shirt to wash with a small load of Steve’s own laundry so if his mom and Coach came home early they wouldn’t be suspicious. Eli hadn’t wanted to be shirtless, so he grabbed one of Steve’s jerseys, which almost came to his knees. It didn’t help that his hair and shoulders were somehow still damp from the rain. It was late spring, it shouldn’t have been raining, but perhaps the drought was finally ending.

“Quick question,” Eli asked.

“Quick answer: no, I don’t think I have anything that would fit you better.”

“That wasn’t what I was gonna ask. When did I ask for your opinion?”

It was funny to see just how many frowns Steve could make when he was trying to think of an answer other than, “No, Eli, you never asked my opinion and I’m being a buttsnack.”

“I mean, you asked my opinion when that creeper slashed me,” Steve said. Eli frowned, remembering the incident. He wondered if maybe they should start wearing jackets while Creepslaying. Black leather jackets would fit their uniform _and_ protect them from both Vespa crashes and creepers, but Eli’s mom would get mad at him for wearing one. Then again, she was already annoyed that he riding a Vespa at all. Protection would make her happier.

“You asked if I should go to the hospital,” Steve continued.

“I suggested that you go to the hospital. And you refused.”

“Yeah, because Lake’s mom works there; she’d tell him about us. Besides, you got _stabbed._ Shouldn’t you be the one getting checked out?”

“Jim’s mom might not know; I didn’t tell _my_ mom about us. Besides, there was more blood when you got cut.”

“Yeah, well, I’m bigger so I can lose more blood than you and stay healthy. Also, you didn’t tell your mom because you’re _cool,_ Pepperbabe. Lake, though, I bet he told his mom on day one of having the armor and stuff. Besides, he has those creeper’s in his basement. How’d he get them in there without her noticing?”

“You do have a poin... wait. What did you call me?”

Steve’s eyes darted about the room. “What do you _think_ I called you?”

“Pepperbabe.”

“Oh, uh... promise you won’t make fun of me or anything?” Steve asked in a small voice, eyes darting for an escape.

“I promise.”

“Okay.” Steve took a deep breath, and then another. “I...” Steve looked away, and when he looked back at Eli his gaze was scared and intense. “I have a crush on you.”

Eli blinked. While that wasn’t what he had been expecting, it honestly made more sense than anything else, given the “babe” part. Though, it made Eli feel a little uncomfortable, like he had in third grade when his teacher told Bekki Watkins that the reason Donovan Lum pulled on her pigtails was because Donovan apparently had a crush on Bekki.

“How long?” Eli asked, trying to keep the suspicion out of his voice. As uncomfortable as he was, Steve looked infinitely more so. Eli wondered if it had something to do with Steve’s dad, but he wouldn’t ask.

Steve blinked. “What?”

“How long have you had a crush on me?”

“Since I saw you waving around that medieval weapon the night of our first mission together.”

“Oh.” That made Eli feel _much_ better.

“This... this isn’t going to change things between us, right?”

“Not unless you _want_ it to. I mean, I had a crush on you the start of freshman year.”

“What happened, to make you _not_ have a crush on me? Since, y’know, you said had.”

“You shoved me in a locker.”

“Oh... right. I’m sorry about that, I was a real buttsnack for shoving you in there.”

“Thanks for apologizing. And, I guess that crush had never really gone away, or maybe it did, and then came back, since you went from ‘tall guy with nice hair’ to ‘Steve, who bullies me’ to ‘Steve, who’d protect me in an instant but still is a buttsnack to me at school so we can keep our cover’. So, yeah. If you want to stay just friends, that’s fine with me, but I also wouldn’t mind being _more_ than friends and Creepslaying partners.”

“I’d like that. The second version, that is.”

The alarm on the washing machine went off.


End file.
